James Harding, speaking on Radio 4's The Media Show this afternoon, saw the growth of digital users in the face of the "dispiriting" decline of print sales as a positive factor.

The paper may have lost 50,000 in print circulation, but the addition of 79,000 digital subscribers was a pleasing development.

He said that his paper's parent company, News International, had reported "the most conservative numbers", implying that the total may be greater.

He declined to comment on the shrinking income - print sales earn more revenue than digital subscriptions - but spoke of the value of slowish long-term growth.

Asked by interviewer Steve Hewlett about the level of churn, Harding said that it was very low, claiming that 97% who have signed up for one month have done so the following month.

Harding also side-stepped Hewlett's question about why News Int is not breaking down the figures to show whether users are signing up for the website or for tablet readers.

Whatever Harding says about the figures and his (admittedly tentative) optimism for future growth, it's hard not to note that they seem very low when set in the context of digital users for other news sites.

To be frank, if I was a Times or Sunday Times journalist, I would find the digital take-up very depressing indeed.

I accept that there is value in plugging people into making regular online payments. I also accept that quality can be more important than quantity.

But in the world of new media the combination of quality and quantity is essential. News sites cannot exist in isolation. They have to be part of the 24/7 conversation.